Transport of loaded containers between dockside piers and ships currently involve use of a large marine terminal crane, which typically embodies a horizontally elongated boom having a rail guided trolley through which the container is delivered. At large ports such a crane is often a bottleneck when high load transfer performance is required. When container transfer between a truck and a misaligned lowered spreader bar from the crane boom is involved, repeated and time-consuming load transfer attempts are required before spreader bar attachment to the container is achieved.
It is therefore an important object of the present invention to provide for a more efficient and less time-consuming transfer of containers from trucks to ships through the aforementioned type of marine terminal crane.